HAMMOND MAN CHARGED IN I-80/84 SHOOTING
A Hammond man was formally charged Friday in a June 8 road rage shooting on the I-80/94 Burr Street exit.
Jaymiere Johnson, 25, is charged with aggravated battery, a Level 3 felony; battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony; and battery resulting in serious bodily injury, also a Level 5 felony.
He made a brief court appearance Monday. His next court date is June 23 before Judge Gina Jones.
The victim told police that he “may” have cut Johnson off just before the shooting. A dash cam from the victim’s vehicle recorded seven or eight shots. He pulled off at the Hard Rock Casino parking lot to call 911. He didn’t have time to draw his own gun, he said.
The man was taken to the hospital. He was shot in the temple, jaw, neck and shoulder. He also had a “serious arterial bleed” in his neck.
Police traced the other vehicle – a 2020 Jeep Grand Cherokee – to Johnson’s extended relative. He was arrested in a traffic stop near 5th Avenue and Buchanan Street.
When he was arrested with his sisters in the SUV, Johnson told officers he had a bullet casing from “the incident the other day.”
He asked for a lawyer.
“No one was in the vehicle, but me,” he told police.
PORTAGE MAN CHARGED AFTER ALLEGEDLY FAKING ‘EVIDENCE’
A Portage man is facing new charges after he allegedly concocted a scheme to show evidence was faked against him in a child solicitation and sexual misconduct trial.
Michael Langford, 48, is charged with three counts of obstruction of justice and five counts of possession of child pornography. He is in custody, held on a $10,000 cash bond.
His lawyer Herb Shaps was not immediately available for comment.
A woman contacted police Jan. 15 – the day after Langford’s original trial conviction – telling police she received a bizarre anonymous package in the mail with two computer-printed letters and two SD cards.
One letter claimed it was written by her late husband – who died nearly five years earlier, an affidavit states. He allegedly wrote that he was seeing Langford’s wife and that they planned “to kill” her and Langford. The letter also claimed they “orchestrated a story” to “get Michael arrested” using “evidence” on the SD cards, records state.
Authorities later alleged Langford sent the package.
The SD cards had “over” 2,000 child pornography images from 2018 to 2021.
After a search warrant to digitally break open Langford’s phone, investigators concluded he downloaded the files onto the SD cards from his device to make it look like others framed him, charges allege.
Langford’s sentencing hearing from his trial is set for July.
mcolias@post-trib.com
